Many people fidget as a result of nervous energy, stress, agitation, and/or boredom. Others have trouble concentrating and need to move to release energy. Still other studies have shown that fidgeting helps relieve cognitive load by offloading some of the load to movement, thereby freeing up resources to concentrate on a mental process.
Fidgeting is often manifested by playing with one's fingers, hair, jewelry or item of clothing. Alternatively, a person might play with coffee cups, labels on bottles, candy wrappers, paper clips and the like. Still others may click on a retractable pen. These actions may distract others, for example in a classroom or a meeting. However, in many cases, a person who is restrained against fidgeting may not be able to fully concentrate and/or fully absorb what is being said, read or viewed in a particular activity. Many people therefore find they are able to more fully concentrate on a speaker, text they are reading, video they are watching or text they are writing, by fidgeting.
Various efforts have been made for relieving the urge to fidget. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,827B1 (Krull) describes a hand-held amusement device having a base that is configured for rocking back and forth on a surface, and components that can be moved by the user relative to the base. These components include a rotatable cylinder, a telescoping plunger, a slideable clip, a pivoting lever, a hole for twirling, text embossed in braille, and a rotatably mounted ball.
Likewise, US2015/0202544A1 (Snee, Jr. et al) discloses a tactile feedback device that is handheld with attachments for replicating a human fidgeting action such as rolling a pencil, clicking a pen, twisting hair and rotating a cylinder.
The Krull and Snee, Jr. et al devices provide outlets for nervous energy or cognitive load. However, the devices are disadvantageous because they may be viewed as unprofessional in a meeting as they have the appearance of a toy, and/or because they may be easily forgotten by a user on his/her way to a meeting, classroom, library, coffee shop and the like.
It would be more convenient and professional to have the device integrated with a tool, such as a writing instrument, that would typically be used at and taken to a meeting, or the like.
There is a need, therefore, for developing a writing instrument that has a component for improving cognitive function. To that end, U.S. Pat. No. 7,179,004B2 (Cetera) relates to a clip that may be attached to a handheld instrument, such as a pen. The clip has a track with parallel rails with a slidable member for a user to slide up and down on the clip rail, for relieving nervous stress. Cetera suggests that an advantage of his device is that the movement of the sliding member on the clip rails replicates the clicking movement of a pen plunger, without making noise or wearing the function of the pen plunger.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,211,757B2 (Osborne) discloses a twirling writing instrument. A gripping member has a shaft that extends in a transverse direction relative to the writing instrument body. A rotary assembly couples the gripping member to the instrument body and allows a user to twirl the instrument body, in a similar fashion to twirling a baton. Osborne contemplates the use of the twirling instrument when a user is contemplating what to write prior to writing, listening to someone or something that may require making notes, and for providing stimulation or amusement when the writing instrument is not being used to actively mark.
While the sliding action of Cetera and the twirling action of Osborne may help people with the fidgeting movement, the devices may not be sufficiently versatile to stimulate a user in need of fidgeting to improve cognitive function, by, for example, improving attention span, relieving cognitive load and/or improving memory, and/or to relieve nervous energy or stress. Moreover, the sliding function of Cetera and the twirling function of Osborne are limited to operation when a user is not actively marking with their writing instrument.
There is a need for a writing instrument that is sufficiently versatile to allow different types of fidgeting movements. There is also a need for a writing instrument that allows a user to either fidget or readily disengage from fidgeting while using the pen. There is also a need for a writing instrument having a fidgeting component that can provide a secondary function.